Help Needed! Need Advice- Inverted Tail Removal

[xtina615]

I am really struggling with what I should do with Chunk's tail. We've had him for 2 weeks (tomorrow), and he came to us with SEVERE dermatitis in his tail. It's really nasty, and stinky, although it has gotten better with intense twice daily care. I've been bathing him every other day in Douxo medicated shampoo, putting in about 1/2 cup of yellow listerine in his bath water, along with some epsom salts to soak his foot- he has an interdigital cyst. And on the days when he doesn't get a bath, I use the Douxo medicated spray to clean his inverted tail. Each night before bed, I put a small amount of diaper rash ointment (zinc ointment) into the tail area. It is definitely BETTER, but I foresee this probably being a lifelong problem. The veterinarian that I took him to suggested to have the tail amputated....initially, I thought this was definitely the best route to go b/c honestly, it takes quite a bit to gross me out, but this is definitely one of those things! Upon reading some information about these tail amputations, I am REALLY nervous to have this done.

If any of you have been down this road with an inverted/embedded tail, can you give me your two cents? I want to do what's best for Chunk, and his health- with an underlying selfishness of not wanting to deal with stinky tail forever!!

 

[dalmatina38]

I have no experience with an inverted tail or amputation but everything I have read and heard recommends this to be a last resort because the tail has so many nerves there and the amputation could cause other problems. I do have experience with really tight tail pockets; our Amber has an extremely tight tail pocket and I have struggled with it since she was a puppy and I think Ruby is also going to have a really tight tail pocket. What I have found works great is an old water pik; I fill ours with a mixture of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and a little salt and slide it in under the tail and turn it on. I works great; I was and still do use cloth diapers most of the time with witch hazel afterwards to get it dried out. An ointment I have found useful for almost anything is called oronine ointment, it is a japanese ointment you can buy in oriental stores or online as is the best stuff for both humans and furbabies. It really works as an antifungal. I use q-tips to apply it under the tail into the tail pocket. It keeps her tail pocket nice and clean and smell free. Ambers tail pocket gets cleaned about 3 times a week. I hope everything works out and good luck.

 

[traceylynn172]

Well I have not had a bully with this issue but one that I do doggie day care for has had it done. She has such bad allergies and her poor tail was so bad the owners decided to have it removed. The surgery was went very well all though I will tell you it is a rough surgery especially since they spend so much time on the butts. She is like a totally different dog now her tail bothered her so much she was very quiet and with drawn now she is very friendly and out going and her personality has really come out. I think it was the best thing they ever did for her You could always get a second opinion from another bulldog vet if you have one close to you.

 

[2BullyMama]

There are a few here that had to have it done.... I think Vegas (@libra926) is one

 

[Lauren31287]

It really is a last resort. We ran into the same problem about a month ago. The vet treated Winston with medication to help clear the infection up but it will be a constant battle for us also. I have started him on probiotics which has helped a bit. We do clean it everyday with Witch Hazel and apply a tiny bit of desitin after and he's good to go. He also gets a bath with medicated shampoo once a week. Although we are cleaning it everyday he is not scooting or trying to itchy his bum anymore. It is a bit of a pain but if it doesn't seem to be bothering your baby then I would say just keep up what your doing. Good luck!!

 

[mzza111]

I adopted my bully almost 4 weeks ago. She had her tail amputated at the end of April and since I've had her, she has had no problems due to the amputations.

 

[LynnA]

Chuck is adorable. I dont have much to offer on that subject other then Otis's bum needs to be cleaned once, sometimes twice a day - he runs to the bathroom and I swear it's his favorite time of day. Best of luck to you and Chuck

 

[TessaAndSamson]

I definitely understand you wanting to avoid amputation, obviously no one wants to put their pup thru surgery unnecessarily especially bullys. We found out my Samson had an inverted tail when he was like 7 months old, they gave me this waterless shampoo stuff and mal-a-ket wipes to clean it with every other day or so, they told me if it ever got seriously infected they would have to amputate it but it never has. He's now 7 years old and just with me keeping up on it, cleaning it every couple days we've never had an issue. I clean it with a couple baby wipes (I use the hypoallergenic, fragrance free ones) to clean it out then same with a couple mal-a-ket wipes. If you want to avoid amputation like I did it is a lifetime commitment, you do have to keep up on it to avoid infection but for me at least it really hasn't been a big deal. Good luck!

 

[xtina615]

I definitely understand you wanting to avoid amputation, obviously no one wants to put their pup thru surgery unnecessarily especially bullys. We found out my Samson had an inverted tail when he was like 7 months old, they gave me this waterless shampoo stuff and mal-a-ket wipes to clean it with every other day or so, they told me if it ever got seriously infected they would have to amputate it but it never has. He's now 7 years old and just with me keeping up on it, cleaning it every couple days we've never had an issue. I clean it with a couple baby wipes (I use the hypoallergenic, fragrance free ones) to clean it out then same with a couple mal-a-ket wipes. If you want to avoid amputation like I did it is a lifetime commitment, you do have to keep up on it to avoid infection but for me at least it really hasn't been a big deal. Good luck!

Oh I'm so happy to hear this has worked for you. I'm not familiar with mal-a-ket, so I will check into that. His tail has seemed relatively healthy(er), but it's definitely going to be a lifetime commitment of cleaning and sterilizing. If it was just a matter of snipping off his tail, I wouldn't worry so much about it, but the surgery seems pretty intense and invasive. I do love the idea of reducing the risk of infection dramatically, with having the surgery- but at the same time, I don't want to make a bad decision on this either.

 

[xtina615]

I adopted my bully almost 4 weeks ago. She had her tail amputated at the end of April and since I've had her, she has had no problems due to the amputations.

Thank you!! That makes me feel a bit better about going the route with surgery. Why did she have the surgery? Was it a bad wound when they did it?

 

[mzza111]

Thank you!! That makes me feel a bit better about going the route with surgery. Why did she have the surgery? Was it a bad wound when they did it?

Her foster mom told me she had a deep pocket tail and it was infected too bad to save.

 

[RaRett]

If any of you have been down this road with an inverted/embedded tail, can you give me your two cents? I want to do what's best for Chunk, and his health- with an underlying selfishness of not wanting to deal with stinky tail forever!!

If the Vet suggests it, then it must be pretty severe. Gizmo's was horrible, inverted tail, with a deep tail pocket, we had it removed.

It is NOT Selfishness on your part. How does Chunk react while you are down there cleaning? I'm willing to bet, if he isnt uncomfortable now, he will be in the very near future.

Its a serious operation, its not to be taken lightly... with that said, Gizmo's quality of life is HUGELY Better, being Tail-less, no more infections, no more cleaning daily, if not more often. She wouldnt even let us near her Booty the last few days before we had her surgery.

 

[santinomom]

Santino had his tail removed and I can't express enough to you that it was the best thing I could've ever done for him. It made him a completely different little guy and happier than I can say. Trust me you won't regret it. My little guy suffered with tail infections for almost 4 yrs of his life.

 

[xtina615]

Santino had his tail removed and I can't express enough to you that it was the best thing I could've ever done for him. It made him a completely different little guy and happier than I can say. Trust me you won't regret it. My little guy suffered with tail infections for almost 4 yrs of his life.

Thank you so much for the input!! Was it a bad recovery for your guy? Chunky's tail is so bad- and I'm starting to think that the lack of care for the 1st 2 years of his life probably has irreversible damage- because it's really not getting any better. It doesn't seem to be painful for him, but it's smelly and gross. Did the vet simply cut his tail off, or was it a very invasive surgery, leaving him with a big wound?

Do you possibly have any pictures to share of what his "after" tail looked like during the recovery process??

Thanks again!

 

[santinomom]

xtina615, actually the vet removed the entire tail including the part inside the tail pocket. it definitely is a serious surgery but it makes their quality of life amazingly better that I can't even put a price tag on that They sent him home with about 4 different medications and it kept him very very sedated for about 3 days. After that we began to move around quite normal but I couldn't allow him to jump at all. he recovered very quickly and if you were to look at him now you would never even know he had a tail! I will look for the pics cuz I did take some and I will post them when I find them.